Extreme Warriors: Season 1/US Championship
The US Championship of Extreme Warriors: Season 1 was the main competition of the first season of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors, as well as being the national championship. Despite being the main competition of the first season, the US Championship was actually the sixth episode out of seven to be shown, and was originally broadcast on September 24, 2001 on TNN. Format Unlike most domestic Robot Wars championships, the Season 1 US Championship was intended to be held during a single episode. To accomplish this, the 'Heats' actually consisted of four six-way melees, where only one robot from each would progress to the Semi-Finals. The four Semi-Finalists would be paired off into two one-on-one battles, where the winners would progress to the final to determine the first US champion. Competing Robots Note: Only the four semi-finalists' statistics were revealed in this episode. Where applicable, the stats tables shown are from other episodes of the series. Heats Medusa Oblongata vs 6 Million Dollar Mouse vs Falcon vs Shuriken vs The Brute vs Red Virus The six robots quickly converged into the middle of the arena at the start of the battle, with The Brute quickly ramming into 6 Million Dollar Mouse. Red Virus pushed into Shuriken before colliding with Medusa Oblongata, which was enough to knock off part of its skull decoration. Meanwhile, Falcon had gotten itself wedged on top of Shuriken. The Brute managed to push Falcon slightly off of its opponent, before 6 Million Dollar Mouse gave the two a harder push, separating them. Red Virus continued its brawl with Medusa Oblongata and eventually used its forklift to knock off Medusa Oblongata's head. However, moments afterwards, Medusa Oblongata backed away from an approaching Matilda, leaving Red Virus to take the full force of her flywheel. The Brute then pushed Falcon into Matilda's CPZ. Falcon's could only move on one side, and Matilda had stopped moving, so Shunt entered the CPZ, hit Falcon with his axe and pushed it further into the corner. This resulted in the house robot getting stuck on Falcon's wedge. Shunt attempted to axe Falcon again, but missed. Red Virus and The Brute were ganging up on Medusa Oblongata near the center of the arena, before Red Virus pushed Medusa Oblongata out of the way, as 6 Million Dollar Mouse then slammed into Medusa Oblongata's side. Shunt managed to free himself from Falcon, and dragged it a little further away, but Falcon appeared to have lost drive on one side. Shuriken, meanwhile, had not moved since Falcon had attacked it, so Shunt placed it on the floor flipper. The resulting flip caused one of Shuriken's discs to dislodge. Moments afterwards, Refbot counted down to the end of the battle, leaving four active machines - The Brute, Red Virus, Medusa Oblongata and 6 Million Dollar Mouse - to go to a judges' decision. On aggression, The Brute won the decision. Winner: The Brute Tricerabot vs The Revolutionist vs Coffin-Bot vs Bot-Ugly vs Unibite vs Sobek The battle started with The Revolutionist driving away from the other robots to get its spinner up to speed. Tricerabot drove straight into Bot-Ugly's pincers whilst Unibite drove at Sobek's side. It then started spinning, managing to attack both Coffin-Bot and Sobek at the same time. Tricerabot pushed The Revolutionist, who was not spinning, into Refbot. Unibite evaded an attack from Bot-Ugly before slamming into Sobek again before backing away. Bot-Ugly then attempted to grab Sobek as The Revolutionist fled from Coffin-Bot and Tricerabot. It managed to gain some distance when Coffin-Bot, Bot-Ugly and Unibite collided and got stuck together. At that moment, Tricerabot rammed into Sobek, getting stuck on top, but this was enough to dislodge one of Sobek's tyres. Sobek managed to free itself, only to be slammed in the rear from The Revolutionist, as Unibite slammed into Tricerabot. Unibite quickly drove back into the middle of the arena, trying to deploy its spin attack, whilst Bot-Ugly sat lifeless nearby. It then turned back onto Sobek, dislodging the tyre completely, before suddenly being slammed by a combined drive of Tricerabot and The Revolutionist. Moments later, Unibite broke down and was nudged towards the flame pit by The Revolutionist, who then turned on Coffin-Bot, driving it into an empty CPZ. As The Revolutionist and Tricerabot pushed against each other, Sergeant Bash grabbed hold of Coffin-Bot behind its disc with his pincers. Sgt Bash then turned his attention to Unibite, crushing through its armour, whilst Tricerabot and The Revolutionist continued their brawl and Sobek, now missing another wheel as well as its tyre, desperately tried to stay in the battle. The Revolutionist managed to push Tricerabot from the side as Sgt. Bash appeared to have broken down. Just before the cease call, Coffin-Bot and Bot-Ugly managed to regain some mobility, but to no avail. The judges decided that The Revolutionist had done enough to progress. Winner: The Revolutionist Tiger Cat vs Close Enough vs Rippa Raptor vs Manta vs Rosie the Riveter vs Mad Cow The battle began less cluttered than the previous two, with Mad Cow bumping into Rosie the Riveter, who seemed to have mobility problems immediately. Rippa Raptor, under no apparent pressure, drove straight into the arena wall. Manta took advantage and slammed Rippa Raptor into Dead Metal's CPZ, with Close Enough following behind. Manta then drove back to the arena center and slammed into Rosie the Riveter, whilst Tiger Cat did the same to Mad Cow. The two robots then changed targets, with Tiger Cat pushing Rosie the Riveter into the CPZ and Manta getting underneath Mad Cow. Tiger Cat then slammed into Mad Cow, but little more. Refbot came in to split the two robots up, but Mad Cow's tyre had been punctured, rendering it immobile. Rippa Raptor had not moved since its tussle with Dead Metal, and the house robot came in again to attack it, his saw causing massive sparks as Manta, the barely-mobile Rosie the Riveter and Tiger Cat, who was missing its entire left side panel, gave the odd occasional nudge. However, Rippa Raptor came back to life, which was enough for Refbot to issue Dead Metal with a yellow card. Rippa Raptor then tried to attack the immobilised Mad Cow along with Manta. Despite this, Rippa Raptor's mobility was still limited and Shunt began to investigate. Moments later, Refbot counted out Mad Cow, so Shunt turned his attention to the fallen machine. Shunt tried to push Mad Cow towards the floor flipper, but Rosie the Riveter, who was only shuffling slowly back and forth, was already there, so the flipper fired, throwing Rosie the Riveter on top of Dead Metal. Mad Cow was then placed on the flipper itself and it landed near the flame pit. It was pushed on the hazard moments later. As the last ten seconds counted down, only Manta and Tiger Cat were still moving, and the latter drove onto a flame jet to burn its fur. The judges chose Manta to go through. Winner: Manta General Chompsalot vs Run Away vs Spartacus vs Cyclone vs Panzer Mk 2 vs Drillzilla Drillzilla got off to the fastest start, slamming Spartacus straight into the arena wall. Cyclone attacked Run Away knocking it up slightly, before Panzer Mk 2 slammed into the flywheel-wielding robot, stopping its disc and ramming it into the arena wall. One of Cyclone's wheels appeared to have been bent in this attack. Drillzilla continued in its attack on Spartacus as General Chompsalot also attacked Cyclone, clamping onto the disc with its jaws. Drillzilla then slammed Spartacus into the CPZ, the force being enough to knock Spartacus on its side. The shufflebot then turned its attention to General Chompsalot, before the two turned on Run Away, dislodging its front wedge. Drillzilla then pushed Spartacus, who had been re-righted, along with General Chompsalot to the other side of the arena, with Panzer Mk 2 quickly following in an attempt to keep up. Drillzilla then pushed Run Away into the CPZ and turned its attention back to Spartacus, leaving Run Away at the mercy of Sir Killalot. Run Away was able to escape and then managed to get its wedge underneath Panzer Mk 2, with General Chompsalot also aiding using its jaw. Drillzilla then pushed Run Away back towards the CPZ, but it was revealed that its drill had broken off during the attack. Panzer Mk 2 then turned its attention to Spartacus, adjusting its aim before driving it into the arena wall, at the same time as Drillzilla rammed General Chompsalot into Spartacus. The combined drive from the three machines nearly knocked Spartacus out of the arena. Panzer Mk 2 then began pushing General Chompsalot, before Drillzilla stole it away, ramming General Chompsalot into the arena wall. General Chompsalot was forced to drive on top of Drillzilla to get away, before it was rammed by Panzer Mk 2 again. During the attack, Panzer Mk 2 was lifted up slightly, which allowed Drillzilla to push underneath it. By now, only Panzer Mk 2, Drillzilla and General Chompsalot were still mobile, and the three pushed against each other until time ran out. Despite all of Drillzilla's aggression, the judges put Panzer Mk 2 through on a very close decision. Winner: Panzer Mk 2 Semi-Finals The Brute vs The Revolutionist Unlike in its heat, The Revolutionist got up to speed almost immediately. The Brute drove past it, and began spinning itself. After a small period, The Revolutionist drove into The Brute, hitting one of its wheels. It then continued, pushing The Brute into the CPZ. The Brute managed to escape, only for The Revolutionist to follow and smash one of its wheels again, tearing a piece of the tyre off. The Brute broke down after this attack. The Revolutionist gave it another smash, showing that one of the wheels had buckled out of place, and Refbot promptly counted it out. Matilda and Sgt. Bash came in to attack the fallen robot, with Matilda buffeting The Brute with her flywheel. Eventually, Matilda took The Brute to the pit and eventually nudged it in, despite some late resistance. Winner: The Revolutionist Manta vs Panzer Mk 2 Panzer Mk 2 got off to a faster start, charging straight at Manta and causing sparks to fly when it clipped its rear end as Manta moved out of the way. Manta turned around and the two collided head-on, but Manta's low ground clearance won out and it was able to get underneath Panzer with its disc and body. The two robots drove towards the arena wall before separating. As Panzer moved away, it collided with Refbot, before meeting Manta head-on again. Panzer fired its scoop, but missed and Manta was able to use its disc to lift Panzer up off most of its wheels. Panzer escaped and backed away to come in for another frontal charge, causing more sparks to fly as it made contact with Manta's disc. Panzer pushed Manta back, but Manta dodged away and pushed Panzer from the side, getting underneath again. Manta's disc seemed to stop after this attack and the two robots dodged around each other again, with Panzer nudging Manta towards the angle grinders before Manta drove towards Sgt Bash and briefly got caught in his pincers. Manta escaped, but was a lot more sluggish, allowing Panzer to ram it front-on back across the arena. Manta was slow to respond and when it did, Panzer continued to ram into it, causing a piece of armour to fly off. Eventually, Matilda left her CPZ to investigate Manta, but it managed to move out of the way, showing it was still mobile. Panzer came in for another charge but caught Manta at an awkward angle, riding up its shell and nearly overturning itself, just surviving after crashing into a passing Refbot and stabilizing itself. As Panzer drove up and over the nearly immobile Manta again, Refbot yellow-carded Matilda for her attack on Manta, whilst Sgt Bash came to investigate Manta himself. Panzer managed to get one last slam on Manta's side just as time ran out. The judges declared that Panzer Mk 2 had won the battle. Winner: Panzer Mk 2 Final The Revolutionist vs Panzer Mk 2 The Revolutionist spun, but Panzer Mk 2 pushed it into Sir Killalot's CPZ. Panzer Mk 2 then pushed it across the arena and into Dead Metal, who cut into it. Panzer Mk 2 then pushed The Revolutionist into the wall before flipping it. The Revolutionist was attacked by Sir Killalot and Dead Metal, with the latter pitting it. US Champion: Panzer Mk 2 Trivia *According to Mark Joerger, the format for the US Championship was originally intended to include three-way melees and additional one-on-one battles, amounting to an extra round for the championship. However, scheduling changes at the hands of TNN resulted in the format being shortened immediately before filming of the first heats began.http://runamok.tech/RunAmok/RW2001.html References Category:Extreme Warriors Season 1 Category:Episodes containing the Series Champion